Employers in Cambridge are prioritising lavish office amenities over low rents to attract the best talent to their businesses.

That's according to property advisers and estate agent Cheffins, which claims there is an increasing demand for gym, creche, catering and transport facilities over cheaper rent and favourable lease terms.

The company's commercial property team has reported a "seismic shift" in the local market, with businesses bringing HR managers to view sites instead of finance directors and COOs.

According to Cheffins, in the past 10 years, more than 100,00 sq ft of amenity space has been built across three business and science parks in the Cambridge Cluster, in order to satisfy the demands of the likes of Astrazeneca, Illumina and Gilead.

The games room at the Jagex office in Cambridge (Image: COEL)

A new amenity building in Granta Park, due to open later this year, will include a café, juice bar, meeting rooms, climbing wall, swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi, squash courts, fitness studios, gym and tennis courts.

Philip Colligan, CEO of tech company Raspberry Pi, creators of small, affordable computers, said that the search for talented employees had become "intense" in recent years.

"The competition for talent in certain industries means that we have to look at every aspect of our offer for potential hires and this is something which has become more intense over the past five years," he explained.

"This really matters across all price ranges. Amenities are a big deal in technology companies as the counter-factual is situations where the drive for efficiency has led to overly cramped open plan office spaces with no collaboration space and a daily battle for meeting rooms.

"What people actually want varies from business to business, however flexibility is what is at the top of my list.

"You also need access to great food, leisure, childcare, health, fitness facilities. We see these as a top priority along with public transport options, parking and access to outdoor space."

The Jagex office auditorium in Cambridge (Image: COEL)

Other examples of the redevelopment of science parks in the Cambridge Cluster include The Cambridge Building at Babraham, a new conference and social facilities building and The Nucleus at Chesterford research park which includes a gym and restaurant.

Dan Brown, director of Cambridge based design and fit-out company COEL, said: "We are increasingly being approached by organisations keen to address the issue of employee well-being and retention as part of a fit-out or refurbishment project.

"Companies realise that to attract and retain the cream of the crop in terms of skill-set and experience, they need to be one step ahead of their competition when considering on-site facilities.

COEL recently completed a fit out project for Cambridge gaming company Jagex, whose brief asked for a "bold, funky and inspirational" working environment with "breakout and downtime" space.

The new office includes a 'gaming cave', employee bar, soft seating area with pool table and piano and restaurant facilities.

The canteen at the Jagex office in Cambridge (Image: COEL)

Michael Jones, director at Cheffins, said that in the science and tech industries a greater emphasis was being balance on work and life balance to retain staff.

He explained that increasing numbers of companies were also providing transport support for employees to connect them to local train stations.

"This is what has been the catalyst for the competitive nature of building and refurbishing amenity space at some of the world’s most coveted business and science parks," he added.

The reception at the Jagex office in Cambridge (Image: COEL)

"As the letting agent at three of the region’s largest science parks we have seen a shift in behaviour with the HR manager now looking at a space to consider whether it provides enough facilities to be able to attract the best staff and this is now more important than the cost of the building.

"Whilst co-working space has been central to discussions around the office market, amenities on offer are what makes the difference for the science and tech sector.

"There is no need for bean bags and free fruit in this market, rather the emphasis is on providing a gym, a crèche, catering on site and bus and rail links.

"This change in the market has only occurred over the past 10 years with a particular peak of this behaviour in the past 24 months as Cambridge and its Science Parks solidifies its position as the go-to location for some of the world’s largest and most successful science and tech companies.

"We have also seen an increase in the numbers of top companies providing public transport, mainly buses, from Cambridge city centre to the Cambridge parks, Chesterford Research Park regularly runs 60 shuttle runs per day to bring staff from Cambridge train station to the park."

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